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Actually what he said is to be welcomed, not vilified.
Would have been useful to have used an analogy that held water.
Maybe that's the real problem with his old kettle.
Silly people, surely the answer to the inefficient kettle is to move house to a soft water area and save a fortune as the kettle will not scale therefore be more efficient. Those tenners will soon be working for you.
biggest kettle saving for me would be a cure for early Alzheimers. I boil it, wander off while it boils, forget I was making a cup of tea, come back 10 mins later and reboil it..... and repeat.
Actually what he said is to be welcomed, not vilified. Play the ball, not the man.
If you look at the full clip, he actually was announcing £700M for a new nuclear plant
Well yes, he obviously didn't call a press conference to talk about the alleged inefficiencies of old electric kettles, binners link was always designed to ridicule without context.
However I am not convinced that Johnson's announcement yesterday should be wholeheartedly welcomed. The fact that a French government owned company will own and operate a £20 billion British nuclear power station exposes the complete absurdity of Tory/Labour governments privatisation policies on several levels.
Including that the French government will be reaping the rewards of profits made from UK consumers, for the benefit of French taxpayers, from a commercial operation subsidized by UK taxpayers.
And in a field which the UK was once a world leader - the world's first full scale nuclear power station was built by a British government.
Where do the workforce for the plant come from? Are they all French? Or from the UK?
the world’s first full scale nuclear power station
If we're honest, Calder Hall was mainly about making plutonium for warheads in a slightly safer plant than the one that caught fire.
Where do the workforce for the plant come from? Are they all French? Or from the UK?
You know the answer to that, the UK. And the electricity generated will be for the benefit of UK consumers.
So the fact that there will be obvious benefits from the £20 billion project means that it is fine for the French government to reap the rewards of profits made from UK consumers, for the benefit of French taxpayers, from a commercial operation subsidized by UK taxpayers?
If we’re honest, Calder Hall was mainly about.....
If we're honest the lack of technological know-how wasn't the issue, as Calder Hall proved, but mainly a lack of political will. Compounded by an absurd and illogical drive to privatisation.
Announcing a new nuclear power plant does precisely nothing to help with the energy crisis. It won't be on line for 20+ years
Nope
Care to expand?
It's been a few years since nautical college but I do distinctly remember being taught that heat transfer is impaired when there is a buildup of sediment on boiler tubes. In fact every result of a quick search agrees with me so please, show your working...
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=does+limescale+make+a+kettle+less+efficient&t=fpas&ia=web
And in a field which the UK was once a world leader – the world’s first full scale nuclear power station was built by a British government.
As per many other fields it was left to the markets. After the AGR development there was the Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor at Winfrith that had potential to become a commercial 650MW design but declining electricity use resulted in it being cancelled. Basically a British CANDU style design. After that I don't think we really had the appetite for developing stuff until JET and ITER came on the scene. Makes you wonder what could have been.
The fact that a French government owned company will own and operate a £20 billion British nuclear power station exposes the complete absurdity of Tory/Labour governments privatisation policies on several levels.
My dad spent his life working for BNFL. When they broke it up and privatised it he said that disbanding one of the most skilled teams of nuclear engineers in the world was absolute insanity as ultimately we would have no option but to build new nuclear as the only serious long term solution to our energy needs. He also correctly predicted that when that inevitably happened we'd have to pay the French an enormous premium to come and do it for us, because they weren't so short-sighted and stupid as to casually lose this particular skillset
My dad is not Mystic Meg
It did amuse me listening to Johnsons 'we'll build a nuclear power station a year' bollocks, considering 'we' don't actually have anyone who knows how to do it and its hardly like building a shopping centre, is it?
My dad is not Mystic Meg
You sure, I thought you were from Lancashire? Would fit.
It did amuse me listening to Johnsons ‘we’ll build a nuclear power station a year’ bollocks, considering ‘we’ don’t actually have anyone who knows how to do it and its hardly like building a shopping centre, is it?
"We" could have when Westinghouse went to the wall. Open goal; an already GDA approved reactor, a company for sale, sites already identified, bish bash bosh.
But no, we let every development fail and just dragged our heels.
On your last point, that forging press for Sheffield Forgemasters that never got funded was what the EPR vessels would/could have been built in. Another waste of talent.
Rolls Royce are well into* development of small modular reactors. I reckon they could be bashed out annually and seem a much more flexible and agile solution than a Hinkely style behemoth. Weather anyone would accept one in their neighbourhood, even in the face of crippling energy costs is a different matter.
*ooh, might be a saleable product in another decade.
considering ‘we’ don’t actually have anyone who knows how to do it and its hardly like building a shopping centre, is it?
Speaking as someone who works for one of the UK's leading engineering companies, which is also active in the nuclear industry, I have absolutely no doubt that we do know 'how to do it'. The problem is not expertise, it's political will and investment, and the as Ernie says the ludicrous situation where we have a privatised energy industry which outsources work to foreign companies (some whom are owned by foreign governments) because it's cheaper than doing it ourselves. So with that in mind I presume Starmer will be rectifying this problem. Oh...
Not De Lorean then?
When the civil servants sit her down and soberly describe the consequences of her idiotic economic policies she will lose her nerve
I've lost it now. That is irony?
The problem is not expertise, it’s political will and investment,
What it is is a pathological aversion to stating the bleeding obvious... that sometimes it has to be the government that does stuff and not 'The Market' and that this required investment from the taxpayer and some actual activity from government.
When Boris made the statement 'we will build a nuclear reactor a year' not only was it total and complete bollocks (surprise surprise!) it wasn't actually a statement at all. It was an open question. What he really said was 'does anyone fancy building some nuclear power stations?'
Ironically, a lot of things from the 'glory days' of British enterprise and ingenuity that some people seem to be evoking were done by the government of the day.
considering ‘we’ don’t actually have anyone who knows how to do it
Lots of UK based people who "know" how do it ... but beware ... delivering is quite another thing.
Not to defend the chump but...
Fancy new kettle will heat to 85C rather than a boil, and that is fine for black tea.
Carry on.
85C... is fine for black tea
Delete your account.
Delete your account.
black and oolong tea extraction optimum is 80-85C. Normal tea is black tea. Even the stuff with a British flag on
I looked into one of those variable temp kettles... but... they didn't cost under a tenner, unlike our little kettle. Just put less water in. And turn it off when the boil starts, rather than waiting for it to cut itself off.
I didn't day he wasnt out of touch, just there was a logical point to it
Announcing a new nuclear power plant does precisely nothing to help with the energy crisis. It won’t be on line for 20+ years
It's this kind of problematic thinking that led us into the current situation in the first place. Y
But you must see the point - the current joke of a PM talking about something that will not be here for 15-20 years does not in any way help the people facing huge problems today with the impending energy price rises.
We need more nuclear power as part of a hybrid nuclear/renewables strategy to wean us of fossil fuels but the current issue is much bigger
Not to defend the chump but…
Fancy new kettle will heat to 85C rather than a boil, and that is fine for black tea.
Carry on.
That sounds like the tea my Coffee-Lady* use to bring me in a morning when I worked in Germany. It was only after a few weeks that I found out why it was so dire - she filled the tea-caddy from the hot water 'boiler' by the sink...
* grade entitlement, along with 1st Class travel 🙂
Had a family meet up at the weekend and 75 year old uncle who'se been a lifelong right wing Tory and Brexit cheerleader.
He's had enough and says he can't vote conservative next time.
One down....
Boris is still moving out, van was outside no 10 when i walked past earlier. Must have a lot of furniture for a humble flat, or maybe he's taking the floor boards.
Any sign of a wallpaper steamer?
*ooh, might be a saleable product in another decade.
We had a guy working for us, must have been in the company since the 90s, that previously worked for RR. He said it was utter shite, they were saying the same thing back then.
SMRs are not submarine PWRs, they're 4th gen tech that the UK stepped away from when Dounreay got canned. Molten salt, pebble bed and fast breeders are all the proper leaps forward, RR are just trying to rebadge ancient tech as something new.
That sounds like the tea my Coffee-Lady* use to bring me in a morning when I worked in Germany. It was only after a few weeks that I found out why it was so dire – she filled the tea-caddy from the hot water ‘boiler’ by the sink
When in Rome
Yeah it’s funny that the nuclear power is actually nationalised but to a different country. I never really got that.
It’s a bit like all the high wage/skill jobs that Were promised , you actually have to invest in the people as opposed to continually rinsing them and pulling the ladder up behind once you’ve taken advantage.
I just find it funny how you see the grandparents doting and spoiling the grandchildren but then facilitating the worst future on the kids by voting for terrible politicians.
They keep banging on about Great Britain and how great it is but the drive to investing money into real schemes (and not ways of funnelling money to your m8s)to become a powerhouse of innovation/education never happens.
At least Maggie’s legacy was putting a computer into every school.
Are all these new nuclear plants in addition to the 40 new hospitals or have I missed a step?
More to the point will Liz like the wallpaper?
We’re all dooomed🤯
If you look at the full clip, he actually was announcing £700M for a new nuclear plant, which sounds like a lot right now but if it reduces your costs and reliance on gas in the longer run
I'm not even sure that £700m is enough to tempt private firms (or at least the Fresh ones) to come in on the deal. Sounds a lot but actually its just a load of bluster aimed at showing how 'good' Boris is but is actually worthless.
Its like me saying "I'll chip in £100 for a trip to Hong Kong, lads, whos in with me?'
EDF signed a deal with the UK government 6 years ago
… after being given cast-iron government guarantees that they could charge what was at the time WAY above the market rate, and without Putin going mental and invading Ukraine, still would be
The Tory’s May have done something that we all may ultimately benefit from (I’ll believe it when I see it), but it was by accident rather than design, so let’s not pretend otherwise
Course, the strike price was only a small part of the issues with Hinkley- it's a massive complicated design, which has had issues everywhere else it was built except china, and which the french themselves have cancelled all future plans to build more. Flamanville's build was set back by covered-up failures... When the government picked that particular design it was at least partly because they wanted to build the most expensive building <clarkson voice> in the world, so when it finally switches on massively overbudget and years late it'll be by design.
And that itself's a problem because it's supposed to replace outgoing reactors
Anyways… back to the actual thread subject and it looks like Lizzie priorities as an answer to the cost of living crisis is to ‘restructure’ employment law
Never waste a good crisis, eh Lizzie?
Unions call for Liz Truss to ‘come clean’ over plans to change workers’ rights
She’s going to end up making Johnson look like Corbyn
We’re back to “Britannia Unchained” again.
Never left it.
Truss is the puppet for those hard right loons
This was always the aim to make the uk a tax haven and have an unregulated workforce hence brexit
Speculation…
https://twitter.com/thattimwalker/status/1566191094043492352?s=21
Defence and security roles probably the only glimmer of sanity in there.
Oh for **** sake! ****ing phone keeps losing my reply.
Taishan had issues as well. Flamanville is the only one not now generating.
The government chose jack shit. The Areve EPR, Westinghouse AP1000 and Hitachi ABWR all went through the same GDA process but the latter two both got canned when their respective sponsor companies pulled out due to post-Fukushima fallout in Japan and Germany. EDF have been the last man standing for several years now, last hope was Korea building the ABWR's but that came to nothing.
Westinghouse AP1000 could be back for Wylfa, backed by Bechtel. The Vogtle units in the US are finally making progress.
But while this might contribute to solving the underlying problem which arises from having messed about for more than 15 years, it doesnt help at all with the immediate crisis, which is a symptom of that deeper problem. Decarbonisation is so huge we need to back everything- renewables, nuclear, gas with carbon capture (which I am a bit leery about), plus demand reduction.
More bad news for the Tories this morning. Penny is dropping amons the last cohort of their voters. 🤣
The Guardian: The more Tory voters see of Liz Truss, the less they like her, polls show.
Edit -double post oddness.
Unfortunately many Tory members voted early, before they caught up with everyone else and realised Truss is a disaster, that cabinet is extremely worrying.
The inclusion of Coffey in that cabinet would indicate big tent politics.
I said Truss would be best for the country long term as she will make the tories unelectable and her dimness allied with her enemies in the party means she will be able to do little damage.
Her appeal to the membership means she has positioned herself so far right that shevhas little appeal to the voters at large
Wendy Morton as Chief Whip! I've known Wendy all my life, both grew up in the same small community where I see her dad on most days. It's rare to see her here much these days despite having a house and husband here. She replaced me as Chairman of our Parish Council for a short while many years ago and it was quite obvious at the time that it was just a stepping stone for her political ambitions and she was soon away to pastures new. Always was far to Tory right wing for my tastes but I'm sure she will handle the whip admirably 😉
means she will be able to do little damage.
I really hope you are right but we need clear targeted leadership in the next couple of years, more chaos and inaction will cause a lot of damage. I can see Truss tying herself in knots, trying to be popular and keeping the nut jobs on side. She will screw up both.
May the next ~2 years, or ideally much less until a General Election (dangerously presuming these Tory Muppets are kicked out of number 10), travel by at light speed!
Surprised the Truss/Sunak vote results haven't already been leaked and reversed.
Not much point we all know who's won.
I can see Truss tying herself in knots, trying to be popular and keeping the nut jobs on side. She will screw up both
Indeed. There’s no doubt that she’ll prioritise keeping the nut jobs onside though, even more than Boris did.
As well as the cost of living crisis, which we can be pretty sure she has no answers to, there’s also the very real possibility of triggering a full blown trade war with the EU.
The UK is presently in multiple legal breaches of the withdrawal agreement it signed. If it doesn’t do anything about this by the 15th September then sanctions could start to apply. Unfortunately, where we need to be building bridges, I’ve no doubt that those headbangers around Truss will be agitating for a full blown confrontation with Brussels
Would anyone bet against her triggering Article 16 virtually as soon as she’s in number 10?
Just what the country needs right now
Not much point we all know who’s won.
We knew months ago. Still, the pointless delay gave Johnson another summer of playing the big cheese… and maybe, just maybe, the hustings will have reduced Truss’ honeymoon period and exposed the public to the Tory party internal politics enough to turn a few thousand more key voters away from them.
I really hope you are right but we need clear targeted leadership in the next couple of years, more chaos and inaction will cause a lot of damage.
We were never going to get that tho given the state of the Tories and the way they choose a leader.
So best for the country long term is whoever wil damage the tories most and that is imo Truss
Indeed. There’s no doubt that she’ll prioritise keeping the nut jobs onside though, even more than Boris did.
Yep she’s boxed into a corner before she’s even started.
Article 16 will have to be triggered as she needs a bogeyperson who won’t lob nukes back,she needs a war to deflect the disaster of the tories own making.
Out with the old, in with the old…
70% for truss the impaler.
30% for the also ran (who never really put too much effort in anyway)
Prepared for novelty political bullshit bingo.
tjagain:
I said Truss would be best for the country long term as she will make the tories unelectable and her dimness allied with her enemies in the party means she will be able to do little damage.
Well I hope your political predictions are a tad more accurate than your rugby predictions 😉.
Every time I hear her speak, I despair more. She has no regard for those suffering already, nor the many more who will increasing suffer over the coming months. Intends to remove numerous rights/protections. Believes many people are slackers and need to work harder. The number of hours people can work should be longer. The immediate introduction of fracking! … So many dreadful ideas, that I’ve lost track already and she isn’t even PM yet!
Truss claims the economic debate in the last 20 yrs was all about distribution. The UK Gini coefficient has gone from 25% in 1975 to 35% in 2020. She's going to kickstart growth by rewarding the rich. Good gob she's either totally ignorant or malicious, maybe both. Mind you I can't see Starmer scoring many penalties against such an open goal as he sings from the same hymn sheet (to mix a metaphor). I see Streeting is prepping the public for more privatisation of the NHS, he calls it 'reform'.
She’s rebranding “unfairness/inequality” as “distribution”. A bit like the “levelling up” that has diverted funds and investment from poorer areas in the North to richer ones in the South.
Anyway, here comes those long awaited “Brexit Benefits”… we’ll have to remember to thank the Lexitiers for helping the right strip of us yet more workers rights…
https://twitter.com/thetimes/status/1566052390918410241?s=21
I'll say it again, there are going to be bankruptcies, mass strikes and riots.
Thicklizzy's government will fall.
This could be bad for my wife, she's currently working for an agency.
What are the chances of Truss calling an election?
I can’t see her winning an election, but then we haven’t seen what happen once politicians and papers alike fall behind her rather than the alternatives come an election.
The rest of the darkness you predict is already starting to happen, but will be used as an opportunity to strip us of our workplace rights and our already reduced rights to protest and act politically in public. It’s going to be a tough year ahead, but it’ll be far worse for many of us than it will be for Truss.
If they expect to lose I can't see the Tories going for an early election. A scorched earth set of policies of rewarding the 'wealth creators', privatising as much as possible and deregulating the labour market and caning the expenses. I see Bridgen has taken a pasting in the courts but someone seems to be bailing him out (to avoid a by-election?) as bankrupts cannot be MPs.
If they expect to lose I can’t see the Tories going for an early election.
They need to get through the constituency reorganisation first. That will heavily tilt things in their favour (due to the careful parameters given to the electoral committee) although even that may not be enough.
we’ll have to remember to thank the Lexitiers
Stop whining man! Left wingers didn’t give us brexit, the right wing remainers in the Labour Party and Lib Dems did that. Go and thank them.
Bill - has something new emerged in the Bridgen case and, if so, can you provide a link?
For those still suggesting that Truss will soften her policies once she no longer has to appeal to the select constituency of bigots, narcissists and the mentally ill who make up the Tory party membership, it should be pointed out that most of the votes were cast quite some time ago, and no softening is in evidence.
Left wingers didn’t give us brexit
They did everything they could to avoid opposing it, team Corbyn actively enabled it, so yes they absolutely helped deliver it, even a small amount of opposition to Brexit from Corbyn might have swung the decision by 4% and that wa all that was needed.
To be honest the 48 hour week was never that much protection unless you were unionised. I worked for one company that included your opt out declaration in your joining paperwork despite not requiring people to work any where near 48hrs.
Thicklizzy
If what is being reported actually comes to pass, I'm keen to see PMQ's.
I suspect she will avoid press interviews or public interaction.
I expect her party will again fall out (again).
I bet that following rabid PMQ's, criticism from her own party, riots and strikes, ol' Lizzymuppet will cry tiger tears claiming it's not her, it's all the bullies. And resign.
Meanwhile, many across the UK face a cold, hungry, depressing and dangerous winter as her and little Alexander's policy's take grasp.
I also bet she gets a painting done of herself, being the photo op queen.
Probably right…
https://twitter.com/de_jever/status/1566106629438849026?s=21&t=yM2s6KJ9Vm3vfX1tGlFoWA
Frank - today's Times.
If what is being reported actually comes to pass, I’m keen to see PMQ’s.
As Johnson demonstrated PMQs as a method of holding the PM to account is overrated as long. If the speaker doesnt start saying "answer the bleeping question" then its just an opportunity to waffle and ignore the question.
Left wingers didn’t give us brexit
I didn’t say that we did. Twisting my words again. I said Lexitiers. They played their part. People who vocally campaign for workers rights, yet also enabled the erosion of those rights. Slow hand clap. Most left wingers saw the campaign to leave the EU for what it really was, and warned about what it would result in. They weren’t Lexitiers.
I also bet she gets a painting done of herself, being the photo op queen.
I presumed they all get one done (PMs that is). She’d better commission hers early though, I doubt she’ll be in the post for long. New Tory leader before we have a general election? Can you place a bet on that…?
As Johnson demonstrated PMQs as a method of holding the PM to account is overrated as long. If the speaker doesnt start saying “answer the bleeping question” then its just an opportunity to waffle and ignore the question.
The difference here is that Johnson is a very good wordsmith and has bags of charisma. People can and do ignore the fact he's talking bollocks purely on the basis they find him likeable and he obfuscates the truth so well. Truss is going to do the same of course but far less convincingly.
The difference here is that Johnson is a very good wordsmith and has bags of charisma
Not really. He is sort of good in writing but when under pressure he folds badly. Hence why they hid him away from anything resembling a proper interview. His appealing to the crowd only works if the crowd have already decided to help him out.
It was really obvious during covid and also when he had fading political support since he came out with lines and then was expecting the braying crowds to support him.
Without support he struggles. You can see the same with May. When she had the party behind her she did okay in PMQs but once she annoyed them she visibly struggled.
Had Corbyn come out in favour of Brexit, in line with his entire philosophy and voting record then the nation would probably have voted remain.
His tepid and disingenuous support for Remain did much, much more harm than good.
I think Thick Lizzie doesn't even look as though she believes her own words, she appeared to be about to crack up with laughter in that interview. Ofcourse trickle down is laughable but it is dire in its consequences.